Extremely Rare and Important Anna Pottery Stoneware Presentation Pig Bottle with Corn Cob in Mouth, Wallace and Cornwall Kirkpatrick, Anna, IL, circa 1880, molded, Albany-slip-glazed bottle in the form of a pig with hand-modeled and incised face and hole at rear, the pig's open mouth holding a hand-modeled and incised ear of corn. Incised on one side with the extremely rare presentation inscription "From E. P. Munroe / Fireman Engine No 72 / to / Mr. Murray Tinner / with a little good old Rye in". Remainder of pig incised with a railroad map of the Midwest, including the following landmarks: Missippi (sic) River, grand Tower, Sandoval, Odin, Centralia, Cairo, Mound, Ohio River, Cincinnati, Chicago, and Anna. This bottle is the only example we have seen with an ear of corn in the animal's mouth. The presentation inscription, which gifts the pig from a railroad fireman (responsible for tending the fire) to a tinner, is also highly unusual. Rarely do Anna Pottery pigs mention the bestower and the recipient of the bottle, as this example does. An exceptional piece by one of the nation's most revered potteries. Chips to mouth. Loss to left side of corn cob. Loss to tail. Spout chips. Minor nick to ear. L 7 3/4".
